Looking Through The Window

A Fictional Piece By Kristen Coughlan

I am sitting in my living looking out the window as I write this. We have to be careful what we say and write since the military police take over of my country.

It has been a few years since it happened. There have been threats of attacks from other countries or with in the country.

There was large-scale attack years ago that put the country in fear. Our leader declared attacks on other counties. There were some people that were suspicious over the events that happened before, during, and after this event.

Day after day there were news reports of terrorist threats, people arrested for connected to terrorist groups, or anyone that looked suspicious. Some of the people I know and myself stopped watching the news and turned to the alternative news on the Internet and radio.

The alternative news talked about things that the media never mentioned. There was talk about happenings at terrorist events and at invading of countries.

Over time more and more were concerned over what was really going on in this country. Videos were made and passed on to others about dealings and events going on behind the scenes of our leadership. Federal authorises tried to stop them but others found ways around it.

Every day the leader repeated that the invaded countries were responsible and that we had to stay the course. He ordered that the soldiers that are supposed to be protecting our country to be sent the front lines in the war. Funding for programs that help the people went to fund the war machine put the country back into debt.

There was another disaster and it didn’t come from a terrorist. A natural disaster, that could have been prepared for in advance, wreaked havoc through a coastal city. Help came late and many died. Witnesses saw that the ones who are supposed to help cut the emergency lines, with hold food, and turned away other help that came.

People were losing support for the leader and his party. The leader kept telling the people if you don’t support the wars, the terrorists would get us.

More terror attacks happened under mysterious circumstances and our country became a police state.

Government agents supervised all forms of communication and cameras with microphones appeared on the streets. Television, Internet, and radio became monitored for activity against the later. Web sites and stations against the leader got shut down.

Troops now patrol the streets looking for trouble. Terror alerts happen every other day or how the government agents foiled another rebel group plotting a coup against the leader. People that once spoke the words against the leader disappeared or appeared to kill themselves.

More people began to disappear over the months most of them were ones that disagreed with the leader’s policies. Rumours of camps were the leader’s agents took their enemies began to spread.

Soon the children began to be taken from the homes. The leader declared that our children needed to be sent away to special schools to learn the ways of the leader and protect them from the rebels. My nephew was taken and my brother’s family hasn’t had contact with him since.

People once thought years ago that we would never end up this way, living in a country like this after other dictatorships like this in the past were stopped. We thought it would never happen again. It can too late when many realized the truth.